Before hiking up the peak, I explored part of the first mine adit. I did not go all the way to the back. There was a bit of snow on the ground for the last mile, but not much. Other things we did on this trip include Ord, Eureka Dunes HP, Sandy Point, Chocolate, Towne BM, Tucki, and Ibex Dunes HP.

A very pleasant outing! This area has a very remote feel to it. Dayhiked from a little past Crankshaft Junction off Death Valley Road.

Arrived at the trailhead at 2pm. Got some incredible shots of the changing colors in the sky as the sun was going down, the old and gnarled bristle-cone trees, and the incredible and always majestic eureka dunes view from the summit. Was happy to have a used- trail all the way up. The light is the most beautiful in the desert, it works wonders on the many folds and layers and twists and turns in desert ranges.

Well, it was actually from about a mile down the road. The road was in pretty good shape, but my 2WD RAV4 couldn't make it up a hill about a mile from Last Chance Spring (too many lose rocks). We followed one of Digonnet's routes (slight variation on DPS route). We enjoyed some snow near the top and the great views from this remote peak.

The road into the old miner's cabin (since burned down) is awful, especially the last 0.3 miles. The DPS describes a ridge route that is claimed to be class 1, but it doesn't seem to be "hands in pockets" terrain. I went up by a nice use trail to the south, and down the ridge route. PLease take the route from Crater (sulphur) Mine described on SP.

As our trip was winding down, the family had grown weary of slow going roads, so I hiked up from our camp spot at the mining area by the crater. With some minor side excursions and time sitting atop the peak, I probably hiked about 14 miles RT in about 6:45 (the road portion of the hike was easy to keep a fast pace on). I enjoyed the hike along the ridge.

I really loved the simple ridge walk from the south. While we started at 6,600' and the summit is just 8,459', the total elevation gain for the route is just over 3,100'. Despite a trailhead temperature of 89 degrees at 4pm, we were enjoying a 72 degree temperature on the summit and hour and a half later. The summit register indicates that few attempt the peak in summer, but the starting and summit elevation are high enough to make this route reasonable through the summer, if you enjoy warm to hot temperatures like I do. The view of the Sierras and empty Eureka Valley were particularly nice. View to the SE of Death Valley was a bit obscured by haze.